April 14, 2005
Ideal drinking vessel
I, like most humans, drink a lot of fluid. Usually, I just consume filtered tap water, but since a drinking vessel is almost always used, I think it would be nice to have a proper one. Some people claim that some vessel shapes provide better retention of the odors evaporating off the (typically alcoholic) beverage. I just want to drink water or ice tea or maybe some lemonade, and retaining the odor in the glass isn't very important.
The material I prefer is not glass but polycarbonate plastic. This is wonderful stuff that is used (in substantial thickness) for bulletproof windows and lenses to eyeglasses. It is difficult to break it, unlike typical glass. It is lighter weight than glass, and it doesn't build up small cracks as acrylic plastic does. It is dishwasher safe and microwavable. It's only faults are a relatively low melting point of 370°F or so and lack of a "cling" noise when tapped against another vessel.
Regarding the shape, I put the dishes away enough to worry about stacking them in the cupboard so they don't take up too much space and don't fall down in an earthquake. Therefore, the shape should allow for the cups to be stacked with the bottom of a cup inside the a cup below it. Stacking end to end should also be possible, so that two bottoms "mesh" with each other. There are many ways to satisfy the second constraint, but a simple method involves a sinusoidal curve on the base with at least three cycles.
A final constraint to the shape is that it should limit the tsunami of ice and fluid that occurs when consuming the last of an iced beverage. The flood of fluid happens because the ice slides down towards the open end of the tilted cup, pushing fluid in front of it out faster. To stop or slow the ice from sliding out, a few circumferential ridges should protrude inward.
If I can't buy them, I would like to make a prototype of my design someday.
Update April 14, 2005, 10:35 PM:
Dave didn't believe anyone would want to stack their glasses on end, so here is proof that we do so. We have done so for years because stacking inside the glass below can cause scratching on their sides. It is less stable this way (in an earthquake), but easier to remove them from the cupboard than the other method of stacking would be.